• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Need a workstation laptop for Architecture school...

I

IanE

Senior member
So I'll be starting my architecture education in precisely 8 days.

Thus, I will be needing a powerful laptop to drag about with me to the studio, to classes, job sites and everywhere else a student will go.

The professors don't have any requirements, though they did say "be sure you get a badass system"

I'll for need to be running all sorts of CAD programs, more than likely 3d applications, 3ds Max and Maya were mentioned, and so on... you know the drill..



The question is... in your collective opinion.... what's the best Laptop to get?

Price is not a concern really, but I wouldn't want to stray beyond 3 grand.

Begin the craziness.
 
Look for systems with Quadro or FireGL cards to help run those professional graphics programs. Dual-core is a must (for your needs, you'll be limited to Intel systems, but they are the fastest anyway). 2GB of RAM at least, you could go for more. A large 5400RPM drive should be good, but you can always spring for one of those new 7200RPM 200GB SATA notebook drives if you want to reduce load times by a small margin. I can't think of any notebooks off the top of my head to look at. I'll post back if I get any ideas of what to look at. Any particular size you want?
 
Size, as in like, monitor size? Certainly not a little tiny thing... 15.4 to 17 inches would be ideal...

Off the top of my head, I've been looking at the Asus VX2, as it was recently brought to my attention with its outrageousness. Naturally a few people have said, "No, get a MacBook Pro!" so honestly, I'm not quite sure...

Workstation wise, I haven't owned one, though I have plenty..... but in the notebook realm I'm lost haha.
 
You could go with a consumer grade graphics card, but the professional grade ones might be better for the programs you are going to be using. Here's a list of notebooks using those professional cards:

Make sure you read this to see the difference between the nVidia cards; some are only Shader 3.0, some are 4.0: nVidia Quadro Specs

Dell Precision M4300 - 15.4" (Quadro FX 360M)
Dell Precision M90 - 17" (Quadro FX 1500M or FX 2500M)

Lenovo T61p - Comes in 14" (smaller chassis compared to 15.4") or 15.4" configurations (Quadro FX 570M)

HP Compaq 8510w Mobile Workstation - 15.4" (Quadro FX 570M or FireGL V5600 (Full Shader 4.0, DirectX10, OpenGL 2.1))
HP Compaq 8710w Mobile Workstation - 17" (Quadro FX 1600M)
 
In all honesty, now this sounds silly to some I'm sure... Ideally I'd like to have a laptop capable of rendering said beautiful designs, but one that also, in itself, is a beautiful design. I guess I'd be asking too much for a great looking laptop that can also outperform.

Any huge difference between the FireGL and Quadro FX cards other than the manufacturers, or are they pretty much equally matched? I've been a long time fan of nVidia.

Really I guess my main focus on this laptop should be memory, processing, and an industry level graphics card.



Opinions on this, please: Asus/Lambo VX2
 
Originally posted by: IanE
Any huge difference between the FireGL and Quadro FX cards other than the manufacturers, or are they pretty much equally matched? I've been a long time fan of nVidia.
Click to expand...

I don't know anything about the specific differences between the cards. Just make sure they are all DirectX 10, Shader 4.0 and they'd probably all be equal. The T61p has great build quality compared to other brands. I can't really pass judgement on the Asus machine - check out this forum: http://forums.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=19 for more info on it.

The main issue with the VX2 is lack of DirectX 10 graphics and lack of Shader 4.0.
 
Well i definitely want something that will last me the 6 nonstop years of school I've signed myself up for... and I'm assuming DirectX 10 and Shader 4.0 should be added to my list of standards in this laptop search...

Ok ok, why the Macbook Pro? I've never spent actual time with one other than making stupid faces at it in the Apple store, wishing I had the 30" monitor haha
 
Great hardware, great operating system, really light, nicely built, option to install windows with fully working drivers. Why not? My friends that are in architecture schools all have MBP's, so I'm assuming they're doing something right. I have one too, though I use it for coding. Same difference...8600GT has DX10 and whatnot, you're good to go, and I think the newer 8 series cards have the new H264 decode acceleration.
 
Interesting... a buddy of mine is a photographer and he loves his MBP, I'm gonna spend some time with it tonight and see what it can do...

Anyone else?
 
It doesn't matter what directx the laptop has.
All the professional applications use OpenGL.
The only one that even supports directx is 3dsmax and thats primarily for doing characters/scenes for games.

As for performance you want to have a video card that has as much dedicated texture memory as possible.
When you start doing scenes with 200MB of textures and the video card only supports 128MB your going to get pausing when you rotate the views.
Get the largest screen you can as your going to be spending tons of time looking at it and even a 17 inch screen is going to feel cluttered.
I use a 20 inch and it feels like I don't have enough room with all the menus and windows.

Memory get as much ram as you can, 2GB minimum .
Operating system should be windows xp or xp 64 bit.
Vista is not officially supported by any of the main 3d apps, its at a state where yeah the app may work, but if you got problems , don't call us.

Processor : again as fast as you can get, but really your better off building a stand alone pc for rendering. you can get a much faster cpu in a pc than a laptop. think Quad core.
and use that for rendering long animations.

Alot of people like the dell M90 series.
Come on over to the cgtalk forums if you want to talk with the rest of us in the field to get an idea on what everyone uses.
Lots of industry pros hang out there.
http://www.cgtalk.com

 
Originally posted by: Modelworks
It doesn't matter what directx the laptop has.
All the professional applications use OpenGL.
The only one that even supports directx is 3dsmax and thats primarily for doing characters/scenes for games.

As for performance you want to have a video card that has as much dedicated texture memory as possible.
When you start doing scenes with 200MB of textures and the video card only supports 128MB your going to get pausing when you rotate the views.
Get the largest screen you can as your going to be spending tons of time looking at it and even a 17 inch screen is going to feel cluttered.
I use a 20 inch and it feels like I don't have enough room with all the menus and windows.

Memory get as much ram as you can, 2GB minimum .
Operating system should be windows xp or xp 64 bit.
Vista is not officially supported by any of the main 3d apps, its at a state where yeah the app may work, but if you got problems , don't call us.

Processor : again as fast as you can get, but really your better off building a stand alone pc for rendering. you can get a much faster cpu in a pc than a laptop. think Quad core.
and use that for rendering long animations.

Alot of people like the dell M90 series.
Come on over to the cgtalk forums if you want to talk with the rest of us in the field to get an idea on what everyone uses.
Lots of industry pros hang out there.
http://www.cgtalk.com
Click to expand...



Well, I'll be doing a lot more AutoCAD and Painter X than I will be rendering or using Max or Maya, and for rendering and such if I really wanted to I can just use my desktop...

Definitely agree about Vista.
 
Originally posted by: IanE
Originally posted by: Modelworks
It doesn't matter what directx the laptop has.
All the professional applications use OpenGL.
The only one that even supports directx is 3dsmax and thats primarily for doing characters/scenes for games.

As for performance you want to have a video card that has as much dedicated texture memory as possible.
When you start doing scenes with 200MB of textures and the video card only supports 128MB your going to get pausing when you rotate the views.
Get the largest screen you can as your going to be spending tons of time looking at it and even a 17 inch screen is going to feel cluttered.
I use a 20 inch and it feels like I don't have enough room with all the menus and windows.

Memory get as much ram as you can, 2GB minimum .
Operating system should be windows xp or xp 64 bit.
Vista is not officially supported by any of the main 3d apps, its at a state where yeah the app may work, but if you got problems , don't call us.

Processor : again as fast as you can get, but really your better off building a stand alone pc for rendering. you can get a much faster cpu in a pc than a laptop. think Quad core.
and use that for rendering long animations.

Alot of people like the dell M90 series.
Come on over to the cgtalk forums if you want to talk with the rest of us in the field to get an idea on what everyone uses.
Lots of industry pros hang out there.
http://www.cgtalk.com
Click to expand...



Well, I'll be doing a lot more AutoCAD and Painter X than I will be rendering or using Max or Maya, and for rendering and such if I really wanted to I can just use my desktop...

Definitely agree about Vista.
Click to expand...

Macbook Pro's can run windows natively with fully supported drivers through bootcamp, all you do is partition the hard drive and dual boot ...with little to no performance lost.
 
Originally posted by: evetstech
Originally posted by: IanE
Originally posted by: Modelworks
It doesn't matter what directx the laptop has.
All the professional applications use OpenGL.
The only one that even supports directx is 3dsmax and thats primarily for doing characters/scenes for games.

As for performance you want to have a video card that has as much dedicated texture memory as possible.
When you start doing scenes with 200MB of textures and the video card only supports 128MB your going to get pausing when you rotate the views.
Get the largest screen you can as your going to be spending tons of time looking at it and even a 17 inch screen is going to feel cluttered.
I use a 20 inch and it feels like I don't have enough room with all the menus and windows.

Memory get as much ram as you can, 2GB minimum .
Operating system should be windows xp or xp 64 bit.
Vista is not officially supported by any of the main 3d apps, its at a state where yeah the app may work, but if you got problems , don't call us.

Processor : again as fast as you can get, but really your better off building a stand alone pc for rendering. you can get a much faster cpu in a pc than a laptop. think Quad core.
and use that for rendering long animations.

Alot of people like the dell M90 series.
Come on over to the cgtalk forums if you want to talk with the rest of us in the field to get an idea on what everyone uses.
Lots of industry pros hang out there.
http://www.cgtalk.com
Click to expand...



Well, I'll be doing a lot more AutoCAD and Painter X than I will be rendering or using Max or Maya, and for rendering and such if I really wanted to I can just use my desktop...

Definitely agree about Vista.
Click to expand...

Macbook Pro's can run windows natively with fully supported drivers through bootcamp, all you do is partition the hard drive and dual boot ...with little to no performance lost.
Click to expand...


It would have no effect at all on how the programs operated?

 
I personally own a Thinkpad T61 (non-p). If you have any questions about it, I'd be happy to answer! Just PM me as I probably won't be checking this thread too often.
 
Originally posted by: IanE
It would have no effect at all on how the programs operated?
Click to expand...

None whatsoever. Installing Windows onto a Mac will allow it to run exactly as it would on any other system with the same specs. In some ways it actually will run better since the Apple drivers allow for 2 finger scrolling and 2 finger right clicking within windows.
 
Originally posted by: TheStu
Originally posted by: IanE
It would have no effect at all on how the programs operated?
Click to expand...

None whatsoever. Installing Windows onto a Mac will allow it to run exactly as it would on any other system with the same specs. In some ways it actually will run better since the Apple drivers allow for 2 finger scrolling and 2 finger right clicking within windows.
Click to expand...

That doesn't make it run better... it just gives you the features of 2 finger scrolling and 2 finger right clicking. PC laptops don't need the 2 finger clicking since they have 2 (or more) mouse buttons anyways. As for scrolling, PC's have that too. The Mac version seems to be more of a nuisance than a feature.

There's nothing wrong with a Macbook Pro. If you end up getting one, just make sure you bought it for the right reason and not because it "looks cool". Personally, I'd go a different route since you can get much more bang for your buck with something else.
 
Originally posted by: slugg
Originally posted by: TheStu
Originally posted by: IanE
It would have no effect at all on how the programs operated?
Click to expand...

None whatsoever. Installing Windows onto a Mac will allow it to run exactly as it would on any other system with the same specs. In some ways it actually will run better since the Apple drivers allow for 2 finger scrolling and 2 finger right clicking within windows.
Click to expand...

That doesn't make it run better... it just gives you the features of 2 finger scrolling and 2 finger right clicking. PC laptops don't need the 2 finger clicking since they have 2 (or more) mouse buttons anyways. As for scrolling, PC's have that too. The Mac version seems to be more of a nuisance than a feature.

There's nothing wrong with a Macbook Pro. If you end up getting one, just make sure you bought it for the right reason and not because it "looks cool". Personally, I'd go a different route since you can get much more bang for your buck with something else.
Click to expand...

Yea, I wrote the wrong thing... I was mostly trying to convey that it was a nicer experience.

And personally I feel that having a scroll zone on a trackpad (especially since most other laptop manufacturers like to make the trackpad smaller than a book of matches) is more of a nuisance than a feature. Being able to scroll from anywhere on the trackpad just by putting two fingers onto the track pad is real nice. So is 2 finger right clicking if you think about it. If you only have 1 button, then you don't have to make sure that you have your finger in the right place depending on what kind of click you want to do. Instead, just place a second finger on there and click... so simple.

But I do agree that buying a MacBook Pro because you think it is pretty is the wrong way to go. It is not a cheap machine, although at $1799 (Academic Discount) it is only marginally more expensive than other companies higher-end machines. I'm not talking Dell Inspirons here, more like the Latitude like which are usually more solidly built.
 
^^ Good point on the trackpad size! That is actually one of my complaints about most PC laptops - a small trackpad. I believe a WIDEscreen should have a WIDE trackpad, and it seems like Apple is the only one who's gotten this right so far, that I know of at least.

Another good thing about the Macbook Pro is that it's very thin. Considering the power you get in the machine, it's one of the thinnest notebooks available with those caliber specs. Having to lug around a laptop all day every day, this is a good trait!

One thing that I personally don't like about the Macbook Pro, however, is the lack of a docking port. This is the only "professional" laptop I've ever heard of without a docking port. While this is totally subjective, I can't live without a proper docking station; it's part of my every day routine.

If the Macbook Pro meets your needs and you can deal with the lack of a second mouse button, I'd also recommend this notebook as a good option. In the same price range, however, I think the Lenovo T61 or T61p with various options might be a better choice depending on your needs. These are both expensive brands, so you'd have to deal with paying the price premium. It's worth it.

Both the Apple and Lenovo solutions are the two best, I think. If it were up to me, I'd go for the IBM/Lenovo.
 
^ I'm glad that you recognize that people have to pay for the Thinkpad name. I get so tired of people complaining about Apple's costs when they then turn around and defend the pricing of the thinkpads to the death.

I do agree with your statement about the docking port, but honestly, I am not sure what you would need it for. I have found that most people just hook up USB devices and maybe an external monitor to a docking port, and that isn't too hard to plug and unplug when you get to a desk. Just have a USB Hub, and your monitor, and all you have to do is plug in the USB and then the monitor.... I admit that is 3 steps (power as well) instead of one, but it isnt too much of a chore really.
 
Looks take the last priority in this search for a laptop.

build quality, components, power, and price, all the important factors naturally come first.

So it appears the fight is T61P vs MBP... any other competition-worthy notebooks not mentioned?? I've been so out of the computer loop since I built my desktop 2 years ago.


The T61P only comes in 14.1"??
 
Originally posted by: IanE
The T61P only comes in 14.1"??
Click to expand...

Look again; it comes in 15.4" and 14.1" sizes. The 15.4" size has a delay on it and it is larger, so it may not be as good a choice if you're going to carry it everywhere.
 
Originally posted by: Brainonska511
Originally posted by: IanE
The T61P only comes in 14.1"??
Click to expand...

Look again; it comes in 15.4" and 14.1" sizes. The 15.4" size has a delay on it and it is larger, so it may not be as good a choice if you're going to carry it everywhere.
Click to expand...

I must be going out of my mind, I swear last night it wouldn't let me configure it with 15.4" haha. Silly me.

So will there really be any big difference between the T61p's graphics and the MBP's graphics?

MBP has the GeForce 8600m GT
T61p has the Quadro NVS 140m

Is the 128mb difference going to be noticeable?

Also, would it be a better move to just have the laptop, whichever one I decide on, to show up with the least amount of RAM and just order the upgrade off Newegg?

$265 for 4gb Geil memory, 2 x 2gb, while Lenovo wants $520 for the upgrade.... does anyone know exactly what kind of memory goes into the T61p or the MBP? Buffered, ECC, any of that stuff?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top